Billed as an Albanian crime novel, I’ve struggled the time shifting and uncertainty in this novel, and in particular the seemingly disfunctional relationship between the two main characters – are they a genuine couple, or not? Is Besfort Y a war criminal, or not? Is Rovena his high class call girl, or not? Has she always been, or not? Unfortunately, I don’t care about either of them nor their obsession with one another, certainly not enough to continue reading further – I’m abandoning The Accident at the end of chapter 12.
Publisher page: The Accident – Ismail Kadare (translated by John Hodgson)